The Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA), previously the Gardner Arts Centre, is an

arts centre An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues fo ...

, part of the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

Falmer Falmer is a small village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England, lying between Brighton and Lewes, approximately five miles (8 km) north-east of the former. It is also the site of Brighton & Hove Albion's Falmer ...

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

, UK. Its public programme includes performance, dance, live art, film, music, discussion and debate. The building is mid-century modern Grade II* listed, designed by

Basil Spence Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...

. The venue operated as the Gardner Arts Centre from 1969 to 2007, then closed, was refurbished and reopened in 2016 as the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts.

Public programme

According to the venue's web site, its public programme includes "performance, dance, live art, film, music, discussion & debate and digital practices".

The building

The building is mid-century modern Grade II* listed, designed by

in the early 1960s. Spence's design consisted of three windowless red-brick rings; the innermost ring formed an auditorium. The concentric circles relate to the unity of all the arts. Its capacity is 350 (seated) or 480 (standing).

Name

The venue's name is in commemortion of the University's former Chancellor, the late actor, director and producer, Richard Attenborough. It is also a memorial to Attenborough's daughter Jane, a Sussex alumnus, who died in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

History

The

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation ( pt, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), commonly referred to simply as the Gulbenkian Foundation, is a Portuguese institution dedicated to the promotion of the arts, philanthropy, science, and education. One ...

helped to fund its construction, which started in 1966. It opened for use in November 1969. It operated as the Gardner Arts Centre from 1969 to 2007. It was Britain’s first campus-based university

. It closed at the end of the spring 2007 season, when money ran out. The building was leased from the University of Sussex and needed about £14 million of improvements. Also, in 2006 Brighton and Hove City Council withdrew its annual £30,000 grant in favour of other city centre arts groups; and in 2007 the Arts Council stopped its funding. It was subsequently used as a storage space. Refurbishment addressed the building's previous shortcomings for contemporary use, making it an interdisciplinary space, in the following ways: the auditorium is flexible with end-stage,

theatre in the round A theatre in the round, arena theatre or central staging is a space for theatre in which the audience surrounds the stage. Theatre-in-the-round was common in ancient theatre, particularly that of Greece and Rome, but was not widely explored aga ...

and

thrust stage In theatre, a thrust stage (also known as a platform stage or open stage) is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its upstage end. A thrust has the benefit of greater intimacy between perform ...

arrangement seating; rehearsal studios; specialist lighting, sound and audio-visual equipment; a gallery; rehearsal studios; and a new café and bar. The building exterior remained the same. It reopened to the public in 2016, renamed the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts.

References

External links

*
Gardner Arts Centre records at the National Records Office
{{Brighton and Hove buildings Grade II* listed buildings in Brighton and Hove Buildings and structures in Brighton and Hove Theatres in Brighton and Hove University of Sussex Arts centres in England Performing arts centres in the United Kingdom